


contaminated

by Coveffinder



Category: IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King
Genre: Alternate Scene, Graphic Depictions of Illness, Homophobic Language, IT Chapter Two Spoilers, M/M, Movie: IT Chapter Two, Vomiting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-08
Updated: 2019-09-08
Packaged: 2020-10-12 05:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20558759
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Coveffinder/pseuds/Coveffinder
Summary: (minor CH2 Spoilers)a small 10 min scene rewrite with some reciprocal Reddie. Soft lover hours.





	contaminated

**Author's Note:**

> tw// for nasty sick nonsense and homophobic slur

Eddie could remember now.

The basement. The glass dusted floors, the bags of thick, sticky old plasma and clotted blood hanging from rusty hooks. Syringes slowly hazing over with colonies of bacteria. Jars of matter and decay in yellow sewage. The stench of rot.

His feet worked over the ground with the same crunch they had twenty seven years prior. He slowly made his way towards the curtains at the end of the basement, heart thudding along in his chest and fingers going cold. It wasn’t cold in the basement though, not like a hospital or even a morgue. It was hot and sticky from the summer heat above, the perfect temperature for things to fester and swell. 

When he threw back the curtain a cloud of dust rose with it in a smoggy plume. He waved his hand in front of his face and coughed, trying to forget about all the skin cells that made up the cloud. Wasn’t that what dust was? Skin? It must have been something his mother told him.

Behind the curtain was crouched a rotting man, because what else would there be? Eddie didn’t even bother feeling surprised, cutting straight to the chase and staggering back in apprehension. The creature spun, and it was the deformed leper that he had been so familiar with all those years ago. It ambled towards him on its rotting, gangrenous feet. Eddie backed up into a wall and felt his throat wheezing like a chew toy. 

Before he could get his arm into his coat the leper had already gotten to him. He grabbed at Its throat in a moment of instinct, sinking his hands into the leathery, grease caked skin and squeezing. 

“Fuck this, fuck this.” He groaned through gritted teeth while the creature moaned and dripped viscous brown drool. He continued to tighten his drip and the leper continued to squirm, until the creature suddenly started to change under his hands and he was forced to let go. For a moment it had almost felt like he was winning. 

The creature jolted back and tossed itself to the ground, rolling and twitching as it cracked and shifted into something else. Eddie looked around frantically for something to use as a weapon and grabbed a large wooden dowel on one of the crumbling shelves. 

When he turned to look again, the sick man was in real clothes. Black jeans and a black jacket, with a head of dark matted hair. It still rasped and trembled, but when it turned slowly to face Eddie it did so with the smug satisfaction that he wouldn’t be able to do much against this particular form.

Richie Tozier’s glasses were clouded and cracked just like the barrels of the syringes strewn about. His hair was patchy and so unwashed it looked wet- his entire face slicked with sweat. His cheeks were no longer sculpted but hollow, leading into a red nose caked with snot and rubbed raw. His mouth was a rotted black at the edges, and trails of yellow green seemed to leak from every hole on his face- including the open sores dotting his features. He smiled wide, and rusty brown sludge oozed out from behind his teeth.

“Eddie Bearrr…” He laughed in a voice- the voice he always used to mock Eddie’s mother when they were younger. Standing, and now towering over Eddie, he slowly stumbled his way over. Eddie was stock still and staring, and as It leaned in to take Its prize It expected the man to faint.

As Richie got close enough that Eddie could smell infection on his breath, he slowly drew a shaky hand up. It was ready for him to try and wrap it around It’s throat again- to which he would be greeted with the column of his neck collapsing and spraying noxious blood all over him. Instead, Eddie took his hand up to Richie’s face and gently took his glasses off. Behind the lenses were amber eyes, bloodshot and caked with rheum. Eddie tucked the glasses carefully into Richie’s shirt and then brought his hand up to place the back against his forehead.

“Oh, Richie, you’re cold.” He mused quietly, instead resting his hand gently against the side of Its face. The amber eyes in front of his looked bewildered, but Eddie just offered a small smile and leaned in. 

Gently, and slowly, but without fear, he pressed a kiss onto Richie’s cheek- streaked with yellowy residue. He could smell pus and sweat, and he could feel the cold stony weight of the creature beneath him- just a collection of debris and atoms cloaked around the deadlights and held up by the creature’s will. This wasn’t Richie of course, but it looked so real, felt so solid, that his heart stilled a little just at the thought of him. He knew it wasn’t there, but he thought if it started to smell like Richie’s cologne he might just feel okay. His mind swirled with the earnest desire to simply take Richie in his arms. No fear in his heart or even his lungs, as his chest loosened and his breath came easier.

Pulling away, the creature was dumbly staring down at him, eyes still and nearly glowing with intensity. Eddie moved his hand up to tangle in his hair, brushing a curl back gently despite the oily sheen that transferred onto his fingers and made him want to scrub himself raw. Despite It’s best attempt at staying still, it was bound to the limitations of its form- and the limitation of Richie’s happened to be that It simply couldn’t mimic him without melting into the touch. It stifled a sigh and shifted forwards. In the pit of Its stomach it felt something that would have been warm and fluttery if it was a human, but instead it was akin to vicious stomach cramping. It let out a snarl and opened Its mouth, Richie’s teeth turning into row after row of glittering fangs and the illusion breaking apart. 

Eddie backed up and quickly started to make his way towards the stairs, the creature looked like it was actually writhing in pain now. It gripped at Richie’s hair and tore, strands breaking off and turning orange in Its hands as it jolted. Just as Eddie reached the bottom step, the creature snarled and snapped up to hiss at him. The face was a warped and cracking version of Richie’s and Pennywise’s simultaneously, but the eyes smouldered and the mouth glowed from the inside. It took off towards him with inhuman speed, forgoing all physical fortitude to pounce as quickly as it could. Eddie could even see the end of Its legs fading and flickering as the form refused to hold. 

“What did you do to me you pathetic little FAGGO-” Pennywise was cut off as Eddie brought down the long pole of wood hard against Its skull, smashing the deadlights downward so hard that their shine subsided. The creature snarled and hissed, cracking under the weight and falling to Its knees. Eddie threw the dowel down and leaned in a little.

“Turn into something I can be scared of next time.” He mocked. A single amber eye glowered up at him, but a thick stream of the form’s essence was already floating upwards and disappearing into the air. 

Eddie stomped up the stairs with little hurry in his step, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand and smirking a little to himself. 

Greta Bowie looked at him strangely as he left the pharmacy, face and shirt smeared with dust and filth. He looked fairly pissed off, and she cast a glance back into the office to see if her father was still trying to scam him into some sort of medicated lotion.

“Hey Greta.” He tossed over his shoulder. He turned to face him, but he didn’t look back as he slammed the door open. “Your basement is a fucking mess.”


End file.
